Pax Autocratica Low FPS Fix — Settings That Actually Help

Do this first

Why it matters so much here: the expensive scenes in this game are dense with particles, projectiles and units, which is exactly the workload upscaling helps most with. The colony was never your problem.

Understand what is actually expensive

Colony scenes: Cheapmostly static geometry
Skirmishes: Moderateinfantry and effects
Large battles: Expensivetanks, mechs, bullet hell
Boss / Overlord fights: Most expensiveoverlapping projectile patterns

Community reports describe framerates around 144 fps on lower difficulty settings collapsing to 60 fps in the base and below 30 fps in combat on higher difficulty. Treat those as illustrative rather than a benchmark — the pattern is what matters, and the pattern is that your colony framerate tells you nothing about your combat framerate.

A boss surrounded by a dense radial wall of purple projectiles filling the frame — Every one of those projectiles is work. This is the scene to test against. Official screenshot © Multiverse

Settings in priority order

Priority	Setting	Why
1	Upscaler / DLSS → BALANCED or higher	Largest single reported gain. Ships off by default.
2	Shadow quality	Traditionally the heaviest cost per visual return in dense scenes.
3	Effects / particle quality	Directly targets the bullet-hell load that is causing the drop.
4	Volumetrics / post-processing	Cheap to lose, expensive to render.
5	Difficulty	If everything else is exhausted — reported to affect performance, not just challenge.
6	Resolution	Last, because upscaling already addresses this more intelligently.

Outside the game

Update GPU drivers. On a build this new, driver optimisation is still arriving.
Install on an SSD. 40 GB, and the colony reloads detail when you return from expeditions.
Close background capture software. Overlays and recorders cost more in dense scenes than in menus.
Check your power plan and laptop GPU assignment. The classic cause of "it runs badly for no reason".

Frequently asked

How do I fix low FPS in Pax Autocratica?

Change the DLSS / upscaler setting from CLOSE (off) to BALANCED or higher. Players consistently report this as the single largest gain. Then reduce shadow and effects quality before touching resolution.

Why does my FPS drop only in combat?

Because the colony is a mostly static scene and expeditions put infantry, vehicles, mechs and overlapping bullet-hell projectile patterns on screen simultaneously. Benchmark in a fight, not in the base.

Does difficulty affect performance?

Players report it does — smooth on lower difficulties, dropping sharply in hard-difficulty combat. This is consistent community reporting rather than a published figure, and it is consistent with harder settings spawning more entities.

Low FPS and stuttering in combat